Hot line stick



Jan. 23, 1962 c. H. KLEIN 3,017,905

HOT LINE STICK Filed March 5, 1957 INVENTOR. CHARLES H. KLEIN United htates Patent Ohio Filed Mar. 5, 1957, Ser. No. 644,143 2 Claims. (Cl.140-113) The invention relates in general to hot-line sticks orelongated poles carrying tools for working on hot lines, that is, highvoltage conductors, and relates more particularly to a combination of anelongated pole and a conduit combined therein for conducting fluid underpressure to be used in the tool or head carried on the end of the pole.

Hot-line sticks have been used by line repair and construction crewswith such sticks being in the order of ten feet in length, for example,and constructed of laminated wood or other insulating material so thatan operator may grasp and manipulate one end of the stick and maneuver atool or head on the upper end of the stick to perform Work on conductorswhich may be energized with high voltage or be in close proximity toother conductors so energized. The work performed on such conductors mayinclude the mechanical crimping of compression splicing sleeves on theconductors to connect together ends of two conductors. Such mechanicalcrimping is only satisfactory up to about No. 1 copper (.289 inch) orthe equivalent conductivity in aluminum. For larger sizes a fluidoperated die head or compression device has been utilized, such as in myPatent 2,533,943, issued December 12, 1950, entitled Die Head Device.The use of such hydraulic die head devices, however, is practicallylimited to use on the ground and, of course, when the conductors to bejoined are not energized with high voltage nor are they in proximitywith other conductors so energized.

An object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a hydraulicallyoperated hot-line stick.

Another object of the invention is to provide a combined hot-line stickand conduit for fluid under pressure.

Another object of the invention is to provide a stiff hot-line stickwhich may be used to carry and manipulate a tool or head and which stickalso contains a small bore conduit therein for supplying fluid underpressure which is utilized in the head of the hot-line stick to performuseful work.

Another object of the invention is to provide a single elongated polewhich acts both as a handle for manipulating a compression tool and actsalso as a conduit for supplying hydraulic fluid under pressure foroperating the compression tool to compress splicing sleeves onconductors which at least are in proximity to conductors energized athigh voltages.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tool to spliceelectrical conductors in the air which are carrying electric current orwhich are close to other conductors carrying electric current at highvoltages.

Other objects and a fuller understanding of this invention may be had byreferring to the following description and claims, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the complete hotline stick; and

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged view of the head partially in section.

FIGURES 1 and 2 show the construction of the combined hot-line stick andconduit 11 of the invention. This hot-line stick 11 consists generallyof an elongated pole 12 and a work head 13. The elongated pole 12 may bein the order of five to ten feet in length depending upon the voltage itis designed to withstand. FIGURE 2 Patented Jan. 23, 1&52

ice

shows that the pole 12 has a central small bore conduit 14 therein whichbore is small relative to the outside diameter of the pole 12. The pole12 is constructed without any metallic reinforcing members and isdesigned to have a thick enough wall section to withstand very highinternal pressures. The pole 12 may be made from any of the so-calledplastic materials, which may or may not be reinforced withnon-conducting cord or fabric, for example, thermosetting orthermoplastic materials, having the required stiffness and burstingstrength. One such material is that sold under the trade term nylon.

The work head 13 is shown to enlarged scale in FIG- URE 2 and has agenerally C-shaped body' 17 containing a cylindrical bore 13 which inturn contains a movable piston 19. A piston rod 20 connects the piston19 to a movable ram 21. A die half 22 is removably carried on the ram21, and a mating die half 23 is carried on the upper end 24 of theC-shaped body. Reciprocation of the piston 19 thus causes the die halves22 and 23 to move toward and away from engagement.

As shown in FIGURE 1, the work head 13 may be used to compress asplicing sleeve 27 upon the ends of first and second conductors 28 and29, respectively, to join them together. The work head 13 makes a seriesof compressed indentations 319 along the sleeve 27 in a well-knownmanner to effect this electrical and mechanical splicing connection.

An internal conduit 32 connects the lower end of the cylinder 18 to theconduit 14 in the pole 12. The upper end of the pole 12 may have asuitable hydraulic fitting 33, for example, a standard high pressurehose fitting; and as part of this, a metallic insert 34 may be molded inor otherwise fixedly carried on the upper end of this pole 12. Amechanical coupling 35 forms a part of the hydraulic fitting 33 tomechanically rigidly connect the work head 13 to the upper end of thepole 12.

The lower or second end of the pole 12 carries another hydraulic fitting36 for connection to a flexible conduit 37 which may be a standard highpressure hydraulic hose. This flexible conduit leads to a source offluid pressure which may be either a poweroperated or manually operatedpump, in this case shown as a manually operated pump 38. A valve 39 maybe provided to control application of fluid pressure from the pump 38through the conduit 37 and bore 14 to the cylinder 18. The cylinder andpiston 1% and 19 constitute a fluid motor for causing movement of thedie halves relative to each other to perform useful work, in this caseto compress a sleeve 27 upon the conductors 28 and 29. The die halves 22and 23 are removable so that die halves of different sizes may beutilized with the same clamp body 17.

In operation the hot-line stick 11 is used to compress splicing sleeves,and first another hot-line stick or another work head on the sameelongated pole 12 would be used to trim off the ends of the conductors,if necessary, and to place the splicing sleeve 27 thereon. Then the workhead 13 would be manipulated into position by the operator grasping thelower end of the pole 12 to position the die halves 22 and 23 on thesplicing sleeve 27. Then by operation of the handle 41B of the pump 38,fluid pressure may be built up to actuate the ram 21 and thus cause anindentation 311 on the sleeve 27. The pressure may be released byopening the valve 39, and the work head 13 may then be moved to a newlocation on the sleeve 27 and the operation repeated to provide anotherindentation and so on to complete the splice.

With voltages on the conductors 2'3 and 29 of five hundred fifty voltsand less, it may be safe for an operator to use an insulated handle tooland to use rubber gloves and then work the line hot. However, involtages upwards of one thousand volts, hot-line sticks are generallyused. As the operating voltage increases, the height of the towers orsupporting poles carrying the conductors also increases; and for largecurrent capacities, the diameters of the conductors become larger. Thisincreases the complexity of the problem because the operators areworking at higher elevations above ground and at higher potentialsrelative to ground potential and are workng on larger diameterconductors with larger, heavier, and more cumbersome tools. Inattempting to maneuver such hotline sticks, even though the line onwhich the operator is working may not be energized, it is usually inrelatively close proximity to other lines which remain energized becauseonly in dire emergencies may all the lines on a particular supportingpole or tower be tie-energized to permit working on only one of suchlines.

The elongated pole 12 is constructed to have a sufficiently largeoutside diameter to have sufiicient stiffness so that the Work head 13,which may weigh up to fi ty pounds, may be raised as a cantilever loadon the end of this elongated pole 12. A feature of the invention is thata central bore 14, since it is quite small relative to the outsidediameter, and since it is along the axis of the pole 12, does notappreciably reduce the strength of this pole so that it has essentiallythe same strength as a completely solid pole. Also, the small bore givesan extra heavy wall section to withstand the pressures which may be upto ten thousand p.s.i. working pressure and up to thirty thousand p.s.i.bursting strength.

It will therefore be seen that the combined hot-line stick and conduit11 performs two functions; namely, it permits physical manipulation orpositioning of the work head 13 and also provides a means for supplyingfluid under pressure such as hydraulic fluid to be utilized in the workhead 13 to perform useful work.

The splicing of conductors may be effected by the operators standing onthe ground, and hence being at ground potential, and with the conductorlowered sufficiently so that the operators may reach it with thehot-line stick 11. Alternatively, the operators and pump 38 may be movedto a location near the conductors on the supporting pole or tower. Insuch cases a platform just below the conductors may be utilized such asis often called a diving board platform. This supports the operators atan elevated position from the ground, but they may be at groundpotential since the operators are supported on the tower. The pump 38 ispreferably located closely adjacent the operators for easy manipulationthereof. Often the high pressure hoses 37 contain metallic reinforcementin order to withstand the high pressures involved, but this isunimportant from a safety standpoint because the hot stick 11 stillprovides the necessary insulation to withstand the high voltages on theconductors 28 and 29 for safety to the operators.

Although this invention has been described in its preferred form with acertain degree of particularity, it is understood that the presentdisclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of exampleand that numerous changes in the details of construction and thecombination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafterclaimed.

What is claimed is: 1. A fluid operated tool comprising, a working head,

compression clamp jaws removably carried on said head,

a reciprocable fluid motor in said head connected to relatively movesaid jaws toward and away from engagement to clamp a compression sleeveupon a high voltage conductor, an elongated relatively rigid insulatedhandle having first and second ends, means fixedly mounting said head onsaid handle first end to permit maneuvering said head by said handle, asmall bore longitudinally in said handle, conduit means communicatingsaid bore and said fluid motor, fluid pump means, a flexible conduitconnecting said pump means and said bore at said handle second end forfluid communicaion from said pump means to said motor, whereby said toolmay be operated in safety on said high voltage conductor by an operatoroperating said tool by said handle second end and when said operator andpump means are established at a high potential difference relative tosaid conductor.

2. A hot-line stick for operating on or adjacent high tension linescomprising, a combined rigid handle and conduit having first and secondends, a pump adapted to be located at ground potential and to beoperable to supply hydraulic fluid under pressure, a flexible hydraulichose connecting said pump to the second end of said hotline stick handleto supply fluid under pressure to the conduit therein, a hydraulicclamping tool physically carried on said first end of said handle andconnected in fluid communication with the conduit in said hot-line stickhandle so as to be operable by the fluid pressure from said pump tocompress a connecting sleeve upon first and second conductors to bejoined at least adjacent high tension lines, said combined hot-linestick handle and conduit being in the order of ten feet in length with astiffness suflicient to carry said clamping tool as a cantilever loadand having an electrical resistance to withstand at least ten thousandvolts per foot and with no metallic conductors therein, whereby anoperator may be located near said pump and hold said second end of saidhot-line stick to manipulate said hot-line stick and clamp whileremaining at ground potential, and said clamp may be operable atvoltages in' excess of ten thousand volts with safety to the operator.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS731,145 Wilbur June 16, 1903 1,672,477 Tipsord et a1 June 5, 19282,182,663 Eby et al Dec. 5, 1939 2,230,498 Loos et a1 Feb. 4, 19412,254,613 Matthysse Sept. 2, 1941 2,493,480 Eisner Jan. 3, 19502,556,663 Smalley June 12, 1951 2,564,031 Rich Aug. 14, 1951 2,617,548Falkner Nov. 11, 1952 2,688,449 Haagensen Sept. 7, 1954 2,693,218Freedom Nov. 2, 1954 2,696,850 Peterson Dec. 14, 1954 2,731,656 PayneJan. 24, 1956 2,772,715 Neijstrorn et al. Dec. 4, 1956

